The French statesman said many common fears were paper-thin, but could easily enslave men.

Fear has led to the creation of a world with too much therapy and medication, in which we are encouraged continuously to gauge our emotional temperatures.

We are surrounded by therapists and gurus who give everyday experiences labels, such as generalised anxiety disorder (being worried), social anxiety disorder (being shy), social phobia (being very shy), or free-floating anxiety (undefined anxiety).

We don't merely cushion our children against life's blows -- we sometimes bubble-wrap them. They grow up believing the world is a perilous place and pass on the paranoia to their children.

We didn't always have such fear. In the 1950s and '60s, youngsters rode bikes without helmets, drank water from a hose, and played outside all day without supervision and minus PlayStations or Xboxes.

They survived without mobile phones, internet chat rooms and personal computers. They had fights, and learned to survive. They were not scared.

That generation produced risk-takers, problem-solvers and inventors.

The book, One Nation Under Therapy, says "therapism" is today pervading children's classrooms, the workplace, churches, courtrooms and the media in western nations.

The authors say the culture of therapy promotes self-obsession, self-pity, dependency and a belief that one is not responsible for one's actions. We are supposed to think of ourselves as victims.

The book says at the heart of therapism is the idea that psychology can take the place of ethics and religion.

Non-judgmentalism is a cardinal virtue, while concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, are regarded as anachronistic.

The book makes the controversial suggestion that vast numbers of the caring professions have a professional stake in the myth that most people are too fragile to cope with life's traumas without professional help.

We perhaps lack, more than anything else, awareness.

The mystic priest Anthony de Mello said most people, although they don't know it, are asleep.

"They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up," he said.

"They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence."

De Mello said spirituality meant waking up. He said all mystics, no matter what their theology, were unanimous in their belief that "all is well".

"Most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare.

"Most people tell you they want to get out of kindergarten, but don't believe them. All they want you to do is to mend their broken toys. 'Give me back my wife. Give me back my job. Give me back my money. Give me back my reputation, my success'. This is what they want.

"They want their toys replaced. That's all. Even the best psychologist will tell you that, that people don't really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful."

Kahlil Gibran said we choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. We can learn to be either afraid or unafraid.

Being unafraid means coming to terms with a world that does not always have fairytale beginnings or endings, and still being able to see God's supporting presence all around us.

NO matter how difficult today seems, hope always offers the chance for a new beginning.

When we truly hope, breakthroughs happen, often through circumstances that appear to be coincidences. But coincidences are often when God breaks through and speaks most clearly to us.

Trusting God with our lives is the greatest thing we can do. It's also one of the most difficult. There's no guarantee that life will work out as we expect and, if we trust God, it probably won't.

But if we hope instead of fear, we can be fully engaged in life. We can stay attuned to the wonder of daily experience and even if we are afflicted, we will not be crushed.

Emily Dickinson, the American poet, wrote: "Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches on the soul, and sings the tune without the words. And never stops at all."

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